Smart Waste Collection Begins with New Kangaroos in Piazza Catena
The external kangaroo has appeared in Piazza Catena, directly opposite the Ponale Power Plant. For now, it is not operational, as connections are missing and, most importantly, the cards needed for access to the deposit have not yet been distributed to registered users — future users of the separate waste collection service.
Two other similar machines will be installed in Piazza Garibaldi, opposite the Rocca canal, and just outside Porta San Marco, near the fountain, replacing a battery of dumpsters. These last two kangaroos will be underground: meaning the containers where waste will be placed, properly packed and compressed, will disappear inside a pit dug about two meters deep.
Above ground level, only the control panel and the outlets through which waste will be unloaded will be visible. The «kangaroo» works with a card similar to an ATM card: sponsored by the Cassa Rurale, it will be distributed free of charge to users (residential families in the historic center) in the coming weeks.
By inserting the card and selecting the command relative to the type of waste to be unloaded – plastic, glass, organic waste, and so on – the corresponding outlet will open, and the waste will be weighed, registered to the cardholder, and compacted. This represents the first step towards a waste weighing system mandated by law to prevent the proven injustice of a meter-square tariff.
Two of the three kangaroos are funded by the municipality, while one is financed by the consortium. Once installation is complete, the administration plans to assign an environmental worker for a few days next to each machine to explain to users, likely confused by the disappearance of traditional dumpsters, how to proceed.
Other initiatives in waste collection
Additional innovations are underway: in recent days, the bins at the most exposed stations—Brolio, Hotel Riva, and along Viale Dante (east and west of the intersection)—are being emptied twice daily, at 7:30 AM and 1:30 PM.